School zone speeding violations remain constant, consistent

The rate of speeding violations in the Anna Maria Elementary school zone is not slowing down.

The number of speeding violations detected by the school zone’s automated speed enforcement system remains steady at an average of about 40 per week, according to Holmes Beach Police Chief Bill Tokajer.

Holmes Beach has a citywide 25-mph speed limit, but the school zone has a reduced 15-mph speed limit when it is active 7:30-8:40 a.m. as school opens and 2:45-3:45 p.m. as school gets out.

The school zone also is active 1:35-2:20 p.m. on AME’s early release days.

The automated speed enforcement system was installed earlier this year and went into operation in early August.

While the system only issued warnings at first, it has issued $100 citations for speeding violations of more than 11 mph over the speed limit since Sept. 10.

Over its first week in August, 77 motorists were warned for speeding violations.

The number of weekly violations fell before the implementation of citations but has since remained steady.

Tokajer told The Islander Nov. 5 that the automated system has issued 255 speeding citations since the week beginning Sept. 15, the first full week where citations were issued, and the week beginning Oct. 20, the last full week of complete data.

Over six weeks, that number of citations averages out to 42.5 citations per week, with a weekly low of 37 citations and a high of 54.

The top speed for a violation was 45 mph — three times the speed limit.

The number of locals found speeding in the school zone has wound down since the speed cameras were activated.

Over the first week in August, 26 locals were issued warnings for speeding.

That number stayed around 16.6 per week until citations began to be issued in September.

From the week of Sept. 15 to the week of Oct. 20, 41 citations were issued to locals, at an average of 6.8 per week.

Tokajer said that while it can be difficult to educate tourists, there was no excuse for ignoring the litany of warning signs for speeding violations in the school zone.

“I don’t know how much more warning we could give,” he said. “Anyone who gets a ticket deserves a ticket.”